Rolling Home

By John Winters

In Partnership With Swift Canoe & Kayak

2394 Highway 11 North RR#1

Gravenhurst, Ontario Canada
P1P1R1

Scribd Online Database Series

December 2010

© 2010 Swift Canoe & Kayak/John Winters. This document is not to be printed, distributed, sold for profit, or used in
any capacity outside the Scribd document database without the expressed written consent of Swift Canoe & Kayak
and/or John Winters
 Rolling Home – by John Winters

It is axiomatic that boat designers be familiar with their boats and that, to my
mind, meant paddling them. The mistake is forgivable for I am, I believe, an open
canoeist in good standing and paddling is what we do. Imagine my consternation to
discover that not only was paddling competency required but also rolling, an activity that
appears to be the raison d'être of sea kayaking. Real canoeists, of course, don't roll.
Rolling implies capsizing -a fitting penalty for lapses in vigilance. To say capsizing is
anathema to canoeists is putting it lightly. We are, we canoeists, a tough breed born of
the paddle and committed to a Spartan code.

I resisted both capsize and rolling for a year and (was better proof required that
rolling was superfluous to one who remains steadfast and upright?) but rolling continued
to raise its ugly head and eventually forced me to admit that a kayak designer without a
roll lacked credibility. So it was that I attended the GLSKA Spring Assembly with the
hope of getting it over with under the guiding hands of friendly experts.
There, Bob Knapp took me in hand and introduced me to hip snapping. I flatter myself as
being a precocious hip snapper and Bob, recognizing a superior student, advanced
rapidly to capsizing. This was no big deal either and I may be as good a student of
capsizing as any Bob has had in years. A problem arose, however, in getting back up.
Natural talent at hip snapping and capsizing does not prepare one for the disorientation of
being upside down. Panic set in and I bailed out.

This was more difficult than I thought.

Time was running out so I thanked Bob for his efforts and resolved to get
professional help which I did later that summer at the Holy Rollers Kayak School of
Inverted Paddling.

Al, my personal instructor, assured me that I would be rolling in no time at all

and he was right. Soon I was getting right side up without help. Two-hundred dollars
later (a small price to pay for establishing my stature as a real kayaker) Al anointed me
suitably skilled for the advanced course.

"It will only cost $300.00 and you will graduate a roller of the first water."
Why not I thought and he began with some demonstrations. First Al did a Pawlata roll,
then a Greenland roll, then a Storm roll, and then King Island roll. He did them all with
paddles, a shovel, a copy of John Dowd's "Sea Kayaking", and an old Commodore 64
computer explaining that I would master them all before the day was out.
It took longer than he thought but eventually passable imitations of the easier rolls
became irregular events. I would have mastered the book roll if Dowd's book had been
waterproof and not gotten so soggy. Unable to recognize the limits of his student or just
wanting to show off, Al then suggested that we move on to the really expert level that
was a bargain at only $500.00.

Why not?
 Again he began with demonstrations. This time he asked me to don a scuba mask
and snorkel so as not to miss the subtleties of the action. First he did some fancy hand
rolls that looked like George Szell directing Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture and then
demonstrated a finger roll.

"Watch my index finger closely." he said.

Sure enough, with some clever and confusing wiggles of his index finger he was right
side up.

"Now," he said, "watch my tongue."

With a motion similar to a drunk licking his lips at the sight of a free bottle of cheap
wine he was up.

I was impressed.

"That's nothing," he said with a wild eyed look. "Watch this."

With that he rolled over and immediately popped back up with absolutely no visible
motion at all.

"How did you do that?" I asked.

"It's in the eyes." And with that, he rolled his eyes, capsized and flipped back up in a
smooth motion.

That was enough for me. Al accepted his cheque graciously proclaiming me to be
one of his better pupils (my cheque didn't bounce). The fancier rolls, however, remain
untried and my "working" roll is not a beautiful thing to see. It looks more like someone
killing snakes as I thrash my way to the surface. Nevertheless, the lingo has been
mastered and talking a good roll may be as good as doing one. If I concentrate on staying
right side up, who will ever know that I am not an expert?

© 2010 Swift Canoe & Kayak/John Winters. This document is not to be printed, distributed, sold for profit, or used in
any capacity outside the Scribd document database without the expressed written consent of Swift Canoe & Kayak
and/or John Winters